In Thin Air
by Saint Dezzie
Summary: [ShikamaruxTenten, ShikaTen]  They're just good friends. Just friends right...?
1. Shikamaru Knows Something Tenten Doesn't

Hello, welcome. This is actually my first fanfiction. It was intended to be a oneshot, but no! Overflowing creative thougthts just HAD to keep going, so this is probably going to end up being a two or three-chapter long short story.

I know I know: Shikamaru and Tenten? **Wha?** Yeah honestly, I wasn't prepared for it either. Crack pairing, yes. I was just browsing through the Naruto section, randomly clicking in characters to see if anyone's made fictions of even the craziest pairings or so. Like EbisuxGaara (btw, I will cry of laughter if someone actually makes a fiction of that pairing! And you will have my respect if it's well-written : ). So, among them was 'Shikamaru N. & Tenten' and to my surprise I found that there have been stories written about them together. And after reading _Wielder of paperclip_'s '**First**,' I instantly fell in love. And it hit me, _Wow they _can_ happen._

So yeah. As my first fiction, there's probably lots of mistakes, AND I PROBABLY PUT THE CHARACTERS OUT-OF-CHARACTER SO FORGIVE ME, blah blah blah, it's 2:11 AM and in about two hours I leave for a vacation. If anyone has any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, I will be more than happy to hear.

Without further adeu, I present **In Thin Air - Chapter One.**

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own any of Naruto. Oh damn I wish I did!

* * *

"I have something to tell you."

Tenten suppressed her urge to raise an eyebrow. Whatever he wanted to say, it must have been something that he's had to mull over before bringing it up, instead of being straight-forward and saying it as easy as breathing air.

Because that's what Shikamaru usually does. Speak his words like air.

And for some reason, just the change of habitual speech was making the air around her (little did she know it was all around _them_) was seemingly tense, though miles away from being tense enough to want to make her get up and walk out of the tea shop.

She almost wished he hadn't spoken at all. Just kept quiet and finished his tea and snacks; probably make small talk about the mission they had just completed. Or about what they were going to do after returning to the Leaf village. Anything that wouldn't make her feel anywhere along the lines of edgy.

It was weird. He hadn't even said what he had to tell her yet. And already he was making her nervous.

_Only he can make you this worked up so fast._

Timidly—but casually, she picked up a dumpling by her toothpick and bit a small morsel of it, taking in its sweetness in attempt to calm her nerves and prepare herself for whatever worse. Chewing softly, she replied. "What's on your mind?"

Shikamaru took a small breath and took his own toothpick to help himself of the snack. The medium-sized dish in the middle of their table was getting half-empty. Being not much of a sweet tooth, he was glad that she was eating most of the dish. But it was probably because he was a slow eater.

It took him a little more time than needed to down his dumpling. After all the hours given to him the day before, he still contemplated whether he was going the right direction or not.

"Well, this is going to sound really off-color, especially coming from me."

He was stalling, and he knew it.

Why wasn't it going as easy as he had planned?

_Planned_, tch, _so much for _pretending_ it would be simple._

Tenten may not have been as knowledgeable in reading people as her old teammate Neji, but it was clear as water the uneasiness was getting to him more than it was her.

But one thing about Tenten was that she was clever. Maybe her intelligence wasn't as regarded as the Nara boy in front of her was, but she could tell right off the wall that whatever he wanted to say was something that he just couldn't take as lightly as air.

It was actually… cute. The way he was really taking his sweet time. That bit was actually helping her side of the situation, for she wasn't as tensed anymore.

"Anytime now, Shikamaru," she teased.

After two gulps of his getting-lukewarm tea, he set down his cup, still in his hand. With a brave look straight into her big brown eyes, he said the first thing that came to mind. "We're a really great team together. We should pair up more often."

That's it? After all of this time—all of this _restlessness_ and him making her feel uneasy, _that_ was all he could muster up?

Surely there was more. She could sense it. She had sworn she knew he had something a little more_ important _to say.

Why was she feeling so unsatisfied? His response may have seemed like it was pulled out of his ass but it was getting on her nerves how… unfulfilled she was left with.

Somewhere in her heart she felt… empty, and hanging.

Being one to approach the calmer way out first, she only blinked and let a small sigh at his statement. The snack dish was emptying, which meant that it was nearing time for them to continue their journey back to the village. "You really think so?" she asked.

"I do," he sipped his tea, "I mean you and I both have vast abilities in two different fields of shinobi skills. Kinda sad that we didn't start teaming up for the same missions until we became Jonins. We'd have done pretty damn well at finishing the jobs."

He was shifting the subject, and the atmosphere along with it. She could only follow along.

"That, and you're real easy to work with. You always have a way to work with my plans. Usually when I have to come up with the plan (which is always more times than he'd like to) I gotta think around more so I have a plan for everyone," he continued.

Tenten looked up to see his expression. He was being honest, that much she could tell. Knowing this made her cheeks tinge a bit. Biting back a blush at the compliment, she reached out and poked her toothpick at another sweet, bringing back the snack closer to her mouth.

"That's because," she took another bite of her dumpling, "it's too _troublesome_ to think around more for you. So of course I have to make it easy for you!" Tenten chewed happily, echoing her remark in her head. Shikamaru's expression softened a bit, taking in her teasing.

"I still make thorough strategies, so I can't be that lazy."

"But if you didn't have to think more to develop a plan, you wouldn't."

_Touché._ "Can't say I would. But still, since I do make most of the plans anyway I still can't help but have to outstretch the plan to make sure it really gets the job done. The best way to make the mission end easier is to put a role for everyone. Doesn't Kakashi always put teamwork as first and best? Must be why he's so good at what he does. Okay, except for Naruto and them since the whole deal with Sasuke and all."

Yes, it was best to just leave that part of the topic where he did. The discussion of Team 7's tragedies was a headache to even reflect on. Tenten could only imagine what Shikamaru went through when he had to lead a mission to search for the hard-headed Uchiha, as his first mission too.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind, cutting through everything she had just reflected on. A warm feeling rose in her, making her smile. After a healthy swig of her tea, she said, "You're good too. At what you do."

Shikamaru paused, raising an eyebrow, "What d'you mean?"

Another swig, "I'm not really talking about your genius skills and all—because face it: we _all_ know you're good at that. But what I mean is, that even though you're lazy and you know it, you still go through with your duties. Like even though you say you wouldn't think more into developing strategies if you didn't have to, but you're right—you still do so. You think more for the mission and the people in your squad than you do yourself.

"Yeah, I know. That's what a leader has to do, watch everyone's backs and all. But I like how since you understand all of this, it enables you to not let your emotions and needs get in the way of everything. Makes you seem like the ideal shinobi, you know: mission first, do whatever it takes to get the job done and still have everyone's good side of their consent from start to finish. I admire that."

For a moment Shikamaru let himself go in Tenten's words. Contemplating, reflecting, and studying everything she said. He smirked, outside and inside. After one last bite of the dumpling still stuck on his toothpick he tossed the stick onto the dish. Taking a drink of his now-cool tea, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"You know… the way you make the 'ideal shinobi' sound, you make me sound pretty cool. Thanks." With that, he finished the last of his beverage and set his cup on the table, making a satisfied _clank_ sound on the table from the cup's impact.

Tenten hummed a grateful 'Mmm' and ate the last snack on the dish. She looked at the clock and saw that they had been sitting there for nearly an hour and a half. Not bothering to finish her no-longer-warm tea, she set her toothpick near his around the middle of the dish. Watching her finish up, he stood up making a note that it was time to head out.

Walking out of the restaurant was a moment of relief from the smell of steaming drinks and ovens baking and the occasional scent of cigarettes burning from the other customers inside. The feeling of filling their noses with fresh air of the forest trees all around them was like a fast-working medicine. The sun was setting, where only through the silhouettes of the trees the hues of orange-red were visible.

After a moment of freshening up, Shikamaru's voice rang through the silence. "I like talking with you. Our conversations always end up being a real eye-opener for me."

"Me? Enlightening the genius Nara?" she giggled humorlessly but full of thanks. "I'm quite proud to do so."

He smirked, "Good because I'd really like to team up with you more in the future. We can have more of these talks."

"I'd be honored." Tenten smiled tenderly at his statements. It all sounded like he intended to make them plans.

_At least he's not lazy to plan those_.

Shikamaru felt the atmosphere around him alleviate. Somewhere on the inside, he was almost excited for the next time they could team up again. Hopefully, it would just be the two of them again.

And now, he was a bit closer to being sure his heart was going the same direction.

_She's the eye-opener,_ he thought.

The sky was darkening more, leaving the lanterns of the tea shop the more helpful of the illumination of the setting.

"We should really get going. The Hokage might suspect something went wrong that's going to make our return delayed," he said, again breaking the silence.

Tenten nodded. "Okay. Let's get going."

For some reason, in the middle of their journey back, Tenten became _really_ excited to be teamed up with him again.


	2. Tenten Knows Nothing Happens at 2 AM

No I didn't abandon this story :)

I've been listening to lots of Lily Allen and early 2000s songs while I was writing this (You know, Vertical Horizon times?)  
So ooooh if it seems overflowed with descriptions of scenery then my bad :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Two: Tenten Knows Nothing Happens at 2 AM

* * *

For the next two weeks, the sun heightened its fiery fury throughout Konoha's summer scenes. The heat could have been able to rival the desert temperatures of Suna, but thankfully for the all of the forests surrounding the town it kept heat fevers hushed. 

After Shikamaru and Tenten checked in at the Hokage tower, the two casually exited, sighing in relief. With the midnight setting helping to cool their tired bodies, the walk to their homes was actually refreshing. Their share of the day ended when they reached the first closest home – Shikamaru's – and after they made their friendly farewells with each other.

* * *

"The heat's probably getting to the Fifth too. Shoot, she was probably the first to be infected; it must explain why none of the other shinobis besides us haven't been going on many missions these past couple weeks." 

Ino was lucky to say those words without any apparent response. Whether it was because (A) Sakura was due to be at least ten minutes late to their girl's afternoon out, so there was no way for Ino's opinion to be criticized live; (B) the fact that they were at a local café shop that was an eyeshot away from any bar or tall red tower with a fire insignia on it; or (C) everyone who was present hearing the blonde talk got infected by the lethargy too. Whatever the reason, watching Ino cunningly sip her cherry-flavored iced tea made what she said sound almost final, and _terribly_ right.

Tenten contemplated making an opinion on the topic, but she was too subjected to the "lazy disease" to do so. Diligently, she switched out her left arm and hand to her right to help prop up her face, her new elbow on the table – and that was her response. Minutes after Sakura arrived, life was still slowly progressing. Because of all of the days off that were granted, hanging out in cafés had become routine for the girls.

It was becoming awfully boring, and none of them needed to mention aloud for everyone to know. Even though everyone else would have agreed, it was probably Tenten who missed the exhilarating feeling of shinobi adventures the most. But with an accidental vacation going on this long, she really couldn't help but take precious care of her time.

Looking around at the table, she tried to find signs of any _new_ life within her friends. On the left was Hinata Hyuuga, who was staring off into a distance with a calm, undisturbed look that strikingly resembled her cousin's. This made Tenten smile, being reminded of her old teammate who was doing well making his reputation as the greatest Hyuuga ninja ever spawned. Next to the female Byakugan user was the Mind-Controlling ninja who didn't seem like taking back her words about the Hokage anytime soon. And next to Ino and Tenten's right was Sakura, consuming her lemon water drink with the determination to keep herself from dehydrating. So there _was_ life, but nothing new per say. The brunette sighed under her breath, ending her mental search sipping her peach tea through a red straw. The day was seemingly dragging on a lot slower compared to the previous ones. If this kept up, Konoha outside and in will have the sluggishness to rival Shikamaru Nara, Tenten thought.

Shikamaru. Now there's someone who the female weapon master wasn't up-to-date with. Coming to thought, the last time she had seen or heard from him was when they had walked each other home (or rather she walked him to his house) after checking in at the Hokage tower. That was two weeks ago, right before the days started becoming hotter. Where was he these days? What was he doing? Was he getting these lucky-but-seriously-sucky vacation days too? Knowing him, he was probably cloud watching at the moment.

Thinking of him, Tenten stuck her head out from under the large umbrella shading their table space from the dangerous sun and looked up at the sky. No clouds. It was far too bright and too damn hot for any. So what else could he be doing?

* * *

"Well," Shikamaru breathed a bit, "guess it's safe to say we made that one out alive. I mean, look at us: we pretty much as fresh as the way we left, am I right Tenten?" 

"You have _got_ to be kidding."

"No, I'm not. We were almost _perfect_ this time."

"Okay now you're just trying to be funny," she crooned, slightly giggling.

"Hey," with a non-serious sternness he spoke, "it's working though. You're giggling after all."

Tenten bit her bottom lip, trying to look as innocent as possible. Shikamaru kept his eyes on her with an attempt to look serious. Mouth in a straight line, forehead crinkled and a pair of eyes trying to bring a false message. The whole thing was just hilarious! If his acting skills were to be scaled one to ten the score would have been a flat three – five at the most because to be a skilled ninja, one _had_ to have some decent acting skills in order to make good deceptions for anything. But his… _face_!

He wasn't fooling her. He must have known it because his look started to soften when her voice broke out into a hearty laughter. It was loud, but not Ino or Sakura-loud. That was probably the best thing about her laugh.

Shikamaru's thin lips curved upwards in a slight smile. "If you're trying to tell me my acting skills are bad, you sure are doing a good job at putting it in the nicest way possible."

Tenten's throe of giggles diffused. "Well good or bad, it gave a good laugh. So, that's gotta mean it's a good thing." She smiled. A kind of smile Shikamaru was very familiar with. He referred the cunning expression as, 'the one women show when they know they're not helping the situation so they try to look as _un_-guilty as possible to get out of any blame or fault.'

It was a cheap way to get out of trouble. And that was what made it in the top of the lazy ninja's list of despisal. Somewhere under his mother's version of the smile and possibly Ino's.

The rest of the walk continued in silence. On the outside they just looked like a couple of kids out on a midnight walk (for they did not stand _too_ close together, maintaining the 'friend' distance). No one would have commonly guessed that things were somewhat edgy – one in perpetual thought of their actions and the other half-praying that the former wouldn't become part of his list of most troublesome things.

Shikamaru's house was about a few meters away, seemingly looking bigger as they strode closer. Still, nothing was said since their last conversation. Tenten was the one who had the last word, now that she recalled.

It was a _very_ awkward silence, they both concluded. But no matter how troublesome not speaking seemed to be, the stillness was elusively pleasant anyway.

Comfortable silence, they mentally concluded.

At last they arrived in front the doorway of Shikamaru's apartment building. A brisk of cool air blew against their skin; a bit of refreshment to their zoned out minds bringing them back to the reality of them together.

The weapon expert looked up to see his face. Tired, albeit somewhat alert of her examining him as he was doing the same to her. Tenten knew she didn't look as tired as he did though, but that was a hard thing to accomplish.

Then she realized something: Shikamaru was tall. Or, at least had grown tall. With an approximate measure, she only came up right below his bottom lip. The first time she had taken a glance at him was the beginning of the Chuunin Exams when a certain hyperactive hokage-in-training blurted out his life story to every competitor in the room. All of the rookies, including Lazy, were gawking at Naruto for embarrassing them.

But who blames Naruto anymore? If anything, he helped the current situation land.

Looking down at Tenten was a strange fact to be aware of in Shikamaru's mind. He could recall a time when she was slightly taller, being a year older. But now here he was, seeing the shadow of his figure spread over her front. Even with her darkened appearance – all thanks to him, her brown eyes glinted with the moonlight's bright chroma.

He sighed quietly. Tenten had spent enough time with him to know that it was those distinct 'goodbye' sighs he shared whenever before they had to leave. She really didn't want to leave him just yet. And it wasn't only because she longed for some company a little longer, but she knew it would probably be a while before she would see Shikamaru again. Because really, how often were they assigned missions anyway? There were plenty of other shinobi who needed to work their worth too.

She looked up at him again, tilting her head back a bit to see his whole complexion in plain view. Blinking, she switched her relaxed expression into a small smile. "So uh," she said slowly. The way his face turned unnaturally firm told her that he was daydreaming. "I guess this is where I leave you alone then."

Shikamaru cocked his head to the side. Her tone sounded warm, but her words he was a bit unsure of. Not wanting to delve into her words any more, he quirked his lips in a reassuring smile. Just in case.

"Yeah. It's getting really late," he yawned, it was almost _dawn_ for goodness's sake, "and my mother will have my neck if I'm not found in my room at sunup. It's a turn-off, really. And now I really don't wanna go inside."

She couldn't say she _didn't_ second that last part. The night's chill sent shivers against her, reprimanding her that she would be facing a solitude she was in no mood for in a few minutes.

"Ah well I don't want you to lose anything for coming home late, otherwise we won't be going on our fun missions together anymore." She caught her own words too late. Lord help that he was too tired to have _really paid attention_!

"That's true," he said. He yawned again. He really was genius enough to keep his thoughts straight even though sleep was gaining on him like a shadow.

"Mhm. Well I don't want to keep you standing here. You should sleep, or you might tumble and fall on these steps here."

"Wouldn't want that to happen."

"You might fall and break a couple of bones and you'd have to go to the hospital."

"A good reason to have more time away from home."

"Saves your mom the trouble of personally having your neck and ankles."

A soft but audible chuckle escaped his lips. A subtle blush spread on Tenten's cheekbones but went unnoticed under his shadow. The only thing Shikamaru was able to catch was her smile. Not the cunning kind that he loathed, but the natural one that he subconsciously admired.

"I really don't wanna go inside now. You woke up my mind all of the sudden. I don't think I'd be able to sleep with all these thoughts flying in my head."

"Not my fault, if you're trying to blame me."

"Never dreamed of doing something of the sort."

"Mmm… what time is it anyway?"

Shikamaru turned his head and stretched his body sideways peer into a kitchen window, to find the digital timer on a microwave; its green light blaring in the dark house. "Says 1:46 AM."

"Until two o'clock then." The shadow user's face furrowed with slight confusion apparent on his facial expression. "Because nothing happens after 2 AM."

"Why's that?"

"Have_you_ ever planned to do something right at that time of the day?"

His face loosened with some sense of understanding, but Tenten was still sure that he was probably still confused.

Leaving the subject adrift, Shikamaru asked, "So what _do_ you want to do for the next thirteen-some odd minutes?"

"I… kinda thought you had something in mind. You _were_ the one who suggested not parting ways immediately."

"Doesn't mean I'm not gonna grow tired here. It was enough effort to _walk in_ and check in with the Hokage, and _walk out_ all the way over here."

"Geez, you really are a lazy moron."

"Tell me somethin' I don't know Tenten," he scoffed languidly.

"It's 1:54," she deadpanned.

"Ah," he mused, "so you _can_ be sarcastic." From the way Shikamaru sounded, he was quite enlightened.

"Either you're rubbing off on me, or I'm just getting really tired – which _must_ mean you're growing on me."

"Take that with pride or offense; doesn't matter to me." He wanted to roll his eyes but moving from his slouched posture didn't appeal to him.

"I'd rather not say," said Tenten.

His eyes didn't leave hers – attempting to mentally pry into her thoughts. He tested her to see if she would look at him. And when she finally did, she looked a little more alive – like she had been pretending to be tired to try to get him to go home.

Shikamaru sighed. It was time to say goodbye. And _mean_ it.

Just as he was about to speak, Tenten cut his thoughts off and said, "Gotta get going, I s'pose. I'm sure it's _2:01 now_."

She straightened her standing position and dusted off the imaginary dirt particles from the thighs of her pants. Brushing her bangs to the side, she gave him one last smile before hopping down the steps and saying, "I'll see you around, Shikamaru."

He smiled back, vague with sleepiness. "Take care. And don't forget – next mission you get better have my name on the roster. I'll be sure to do the same for myself too."

"You're taking too much advantage of the Fifth's favor towards you Shikamaru!" she called out.

"No complaints here! If I wasn't such a moron we wouldn't have been paired up recently!" he hollered back.

"Whatever! Bye!" she waved frantically, laughing at the same time as she made her way rushing home.

* * *

The boy was really invading her thoughts. Back at the teahouse right before they set off for Konoha, he had said that he had wanted to spend more time with her. Of course, he meant he wanted to spend _mission_ time and not necessarily leisure time. Careerism was what shinobis basically lived for, and they were good at it – the two of them. 

But one question had Tenten boggling mentally since the night at Shikamaru's doorstep. _Will it always just during missions that they could spend time together?_

Either Tenten had not yet consciously grasped this personal matter wholly, or she had been afraid all along to straight up ask herself that question.

"Look there's someone walking by!" Ino exclaimed, pointing happily to a silhouette in the distance that was seemingly growing bigger and clearer, "Hey I think it's…"

* * *

Hope you guys likey :)

Always open for comments/criticism!


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